Cod Awful
by WindyHaven
Summary: Attempting conversation could be hard.  It could be hard like no one would ever understand.


_Wow, it's been a long time since I've written anything. Oh well, better late than never? And Homestuck, no less! Now if that's a good thing or a bad thing..._

_ Anyhow, this is Humanstuck, drabbley-thing of no particular rhyme or reason. If it isn't your cup of faygo, you've been warned._

_Homestuck (c) Hussie_

* * *

><p>While certainly used to being garbed in expensive finery, Eridan hated the feeling of a tie at his throat. It isn't so much the feeling of something slowly, tortuously attempting to asphyxiate him with every breath he took. Rather, the young man felt somewhat lost without his scarf. The familiar weight of it wrapped loosely around his neck was reassuring, to say the least. And now, it was entangled within the messy sheets atop of his mattress much like a disoriented sea snake caught in a fisherman's net. He very much so missed that lost little sea snake.<p>

Formal get-togethers such as these were but a horrid waste of time. But galas were mandatory, and funds were funds. Whatever the occasion was, Eridan made no attempt to know. His attentions had been preoccupied with whether Vriska would understand why he couldn't get online this time around. One never really knew with her.

Folding and unfolding his arms over his chest, Eridan took to examining the guests littering the aquarium grounds. Littering, of course, being the appropriate term. None of them should have been here. All of these unfamiliar faces were but trash on well-known, once crisp grounds. This was his father's property—Eridan's, soon enough. These people were all but mere city goers enraptured with the concept of fish illuminated from the underbelly by strategically placed lamps. Eridan deigned anyone foolhardy enough to meet his gaze with a very emphatic eye-roll. Most bore at least enough intelligence to move right along after such an encounter.

And then there was her. Eridan saw little to note in her appearance, save for perhaps the glittering bands of gold donning her wrists or the shimmering garments she wore. Whoever she was, she was from wealth, like him.

His father-far-too eager smiles and cheesy comments in that heavy accent-was the one who led her over in his direction. Eridan looked desperately for some sort of escape route. None were forthcoming.

She was still giggling at one of his father's poor jokes when Eridan finally accepted his fate. He wasn't sure if she was simply insipid or if she actually thought the attempt at humor was funny. Eridan hadn't the faintest why his father had been trying so hard to be nice to someone, especially someone so significantly younger. The only answer he received to this perplexing issue was a narrowed glare and a nod. The girl, if she noticed, made no mention of it.

"Wwell, wwhy don't you both introduce yourselvves. If you'll excuse me…"

That said, his father soon enough vanished into the throng of champagne-drinking, heartily laughing aristocracy of their own sort. Eridan took the time to look the girl over again, seeing the curves of her hips under the loose, pink material of her dress and the way her dark hair cascaded down her back. She reminded him of the ocean, in a lot of ways he couldn't entirely place.

"I'm Feferi, nice to meet you!"

Her hand thrust forward and wide grin on her lightly glossed lips, she made the step forward. Eridan took a step back, brow furrowing and lips pressing close together to the point that the skin around his mouth began to take on a hue all its own. Feferi noted this, smile wavering, though her hand does not leave the air it occupied before him.

"Feferi Peixes."

She seemed far more reluctant to disclose that bit of information. Eridan hadn't the faintest why. Eyes immense and mouth agape (unseemly, so unseemly), the young man stared from her hand to her face now, truly looking. Everything made so much more sense. He took no note of the way the light seemed to almost die a little bit in Feferi's eyes.

For the first time that night, Eridan was smiling. His hand captured hers, encompassing it in a clammy, nervous warmth.

"I can't believe I'm meeting you! You! It's a pleasure, really!"

Feferi smiled, despite herself.

"Reely, reely?"

It took Eridan far too long to understand just what this young woman had been getting at, eyes trained on the display of fishing poles aside. The joke had almost already lost its meaning by the time he grimaced. Feferi hadn't seemed daunted in the least.

"That wwas…"

Feferi smiled. Eridan forgot the world span, then.

"…cod awful."


End file.
